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While there is broad unity on the main purpose of strategy – to create competitiveness and addedvalue – much more disarray on the meta research behind strategy. The disagreement can be boileddown to that some argue that strategy can be planned or not. Based on this two strategy schools exists,the emergent strategy approach (or resource based) which argues that the turbulent external conditionscalls for at open strategy that quickly can respond to changes. The second approach is the normativestrategic planning school which argues that based on an analysis of the present external conditions oneright strategy can be selected (Radich, 2006).3. Methodological approachThis paper is based on contact with four general contractor firms. The selection of these four firms isbased on the following criteria. Firstly, the intension was to have four different firms covering a broadspectrum of the construction industry. Secondly, it was important not only to select firms known fortheir strategy work, or attitude towards strategy. This could bias the results. In practice the firms wasselected among the authors‟ industry networks. The first four asked accepted the „invitation‟.A qualitative approach of structured interviews was selected because interview and dialog seems to fitthe soft area of strategy the best. The top managers of the four firms was the target of the interviews.In two of the cases the interview was carried out in two sessions. First a face-to-face interviewfollowed by a telephone update. In the two other cases only face-to-face interview was conducted.4. Case study of four SMC’s strategy readinessIn the following four cases will in short be analyzed in relation to how these four contractors do andthink of strategy. As mentioned earlier, these case studies are carried out by means of interviews. Theselection of the four cases is based primarily on knowledge of the local construction industry andnetwork, and secondary, they should all be SMC and willingly to participate anonymous ininterviews.4.1 Case ACompany A is a contractor doing almost all kinds of new build and refurbishment. The company isnow having a lot of public financed construction orders, e.g. housing, institution, hospitals, etc.Company A employs approximately 50 hourly workers and 10 permanent employees, mainlyengineers. The company attempts in economic downturns to retain employees with great competenceversatility. Permanent staff is not often dismissed.Company A has an explicit and written strategy, in terms of a vision, a mission and goals. It seems,however, that what the CEO calls a strategy more is what theoretically would be viewed as a set ofgoals. The strategy provides an image of a company with focus on its local connection, its credibilityand its employees. The strategy is updated every two to three years. This is carried out by using the“old” strategy as a debating point on a manager seminar.3